Star profile
Phi Cassiopeiae
Highly luminous starWhat is Phi Cassiopeiae
Phi Cassiopeiae is no ordinary star: it is a yellow hypergiant at roughly 326,000 light-years, among the most luminous known, blazing with the force of hundreds of thousands of suns. So far it almost grazes the edge of the galaxy, it reaches us as a modest dot in the W of Cassiopeia. The light crossing the autumn sky tonight set out long before Homo sapiens ever set foot in Europe.
Where it is and when to see it
Phi Cassiopeiae lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is November, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 83° up.
- From New York it never sets and culminates about 72° up.
- From Sydney it never rises above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 32° S.
It ranks no. 29 in brightness among the 93 stars of Cassiopeia in our catalogue. To find it, start from Cih, the brightest: it lies about 4° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 330,000 years ago.
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for Phi Cassiopeiae
- Constellation
- Cassiopeia
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.95
- Distance
- 326200.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 20.020° · Dec 58.232°
- Catalogue
- HIP 6242 · HD 7927
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Cassiopeia
Cassiopeia has 93 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- CihGamma Cassiopeiae2.15
- SchedarAlpha Cassiopeiae2.24
- CaphBeta Cassiopeiae2.28
- HIP 1159904.89
- Nu Cassiopeiae4.90
- Pi Cassiopeiae4.95
- 4 Cassiopeiae4.96
- Omega Cassiopeiae4.97